Reviews by jdb288:

Pours dark chocolate brown with minimal head. Aroma of chocolate. Taste is hints of chocolate, roast malt. All flavors somewhat muted. Could be indicate of a dry stout - a style on which I am not well versed. I'd think it's close to an Irish stout (some definite Guiness comparisons here).

Dark brown, not completely opaque. Nice 1/4 head, somewhat lacy (more head than a lot of Bell's). Real coffee-like aroma, a little sharp as well as deep. Sturdy and strong malt, very roasty and verging on burnt, approximates java but longer and with husky qualities. Light-medium bodied mouthfeel. Finishes dry with a bitter tang and a hint of butterscotch in mid mouth. Satisfying, hits my flavor buttons well. All hail Kalamazoo, the "czars" of Stout diversity.

Very dark brown, approaching black. Thin tan head fades out to an edging.
Wonderful aroma or charcoal, cocoa, mild-roasted coffee and earth.
Starts off with very bitter chocolate hues, before turning more roasted and leaning towards coffee. Continues to smolder, and ends up with some lingering charred flavors. A touch of organic earthiness in present towards the finish, as is some trace milky sourness (from the yeast).
Thin bodied, but very drinkable.
This must be very solid when fresh, considering the bottle I am reviewing has likely been mishandled for the past 10.5 months.
Another nice one from K-zoo

Originally reviewed April 2, 2005. On tap at the brewpub. Root-beer brown pour, with diminsihing off-white head on this beer. Strong roasted coffee, toast, hazlenut, and bittersweet chocolate. A rich, dusty coffee flavor. Not much background. A little bit of sweetness and a good hint of bitterness on the back end. Finishes smooth and lightly oak. Drinkable, with the palate being a little thin. Good Dry Stout!

Brought this one back for Bell's All Stout's Day. Reviewed from notes.

A- Pours a deep dark brown color. When held up to the light you can see ruby highlights around the edge of the beer. 1 finger dirty tan head that leaves a little lacing on the sides of the glass but not much to really write home about.

S- Nice upfront smell of roasted malts. Almost more of a coffee smell than anything. Some chocolate notes in there as well. When this warms a little I could pick out some light vanilla.

T- This is a full force roasted malts in your face kind of stout I think. There is some underlying sweetness in the full drink but you can really tell of it in the towards the middle and ending of it. Nothing really else going on in the flavor department.

M- Medium-heavy mouthfeel. Carbonation is lacking a little with this beer I think but it doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the stout. Nice coffee flavors stand out on the tongue long after the beer is gone. Nice clean feel to this beer. A little watery but overall good.

D- This is a very sessionable stout in my opinion. Nothing really too over the top which makes it a nice beer. Nice way to end the day which is what I did with this one.

I'm glad Bell's brewed this one again and would hope that maybe it might become a mainstay. Of course we all can't get what we want huh?

Trumpeter Stout pours out deep crimson into a pint glass with minimal head with even that giving away in pretty short order.

Scent is mainly of the roasty, malty, chocolatey variety so common to stout but not overly distinctive, this carries over to the taste. I don't know if it's my high expectations based on my love of Bell's, but this hit me as rather dull. The malt is there, the roast is there, and there's a notable cocoa tinge but there's only the barest hint of bitterness, and the finish is just anti-dramatic, the flavour seems to just die immediately on the swallow. Basically this is doing nothing unique...

Mouthfeel is thin for my tastes, particularly for a stout, and while drinkability is decent on this, that rating is moot for me, as the beer is solid, but one of Bell's weaker offerings, which combined with the inconvenience of hunting it down will likely keep it from making another appearance in my pint glass.

I'm not really impressed with this one. Looks pretty, and it's nice and crisp like a good Irish-style stout should be, but there's something on the nose I don't dig... Almost a touch plastic-y. It rounds out as it warms, I guess... Still an A-OK beer, but it's not my favorite.

Pours a very dark brown with some light seeping through the sides of the brew with a nice big brown head on top that gets bonus points for sticking, pun intended, around. Nice aromas of big roasted malts and lots of chocolatey aromas in there as well which leaves the aroma less astringent than most of the style. Taste starts off very roasted with some nice bitterness on the tongue. Then the chocolatey sweet maltiness of the brew comes through and balances things out very nicely. The brew smooths towards its finish riding the chocolate and maybe caramel? or some other sweet flavor through before a quick bitter-roasted flurry in the finish. Amazing smooth and creamy characteristics considering that this came out of the bottle, nice full roasted/malty body makes this beer a joy to drink. I absolutely love this brewery. Thanks to Proc for the sample.

Ah the beauty of a stout in your glass, all atramentous in color with the crown all frothy and light chocolate in color and after its decomposition, the velum like curtain of lace that clings so lovingly to the glass. Nose has an appetizing coffee aroma with sweet milk chocolate also a nice bit of malt what a treat for both the olfactory and ocular senses, with the front rich in malt and lightly sweet. Top is moderate in its feel to the palate and the finish delightful in its mild acidity, hops are pleasing and not overpowering, droughty aftertaste that continues the sweetness, a nice middle of the road stout, one that might just please the Lager Lovers?

T- Kinda meh as it was cooler with nothing distinguishing it. Got better as it warmed with roasted barley, hints of chocolate, still had the earthy flavor hanging around. Noticable dry finish with no real bitterness.

O- Started off as disappointed as it was cool, but it did get better as it warmed up, still nothing to write home about, but drinkable. Fairly average across the board, guess I was expecting more from one of my favorite Brewerys.

Originally sampled on 8 November 2002.
Appearance: very dark brown/black, however, the body is very light
Aroma: A schauzola full of coffee is what you whiff
Taste: The flavors are very dry, w/ coffee overtones. This is very drinkable.

Probably the palest of the Bell's stouts since you can actually see through this one. Great big roasty aroma, a bit of chocolate. Same in the flavor but a bit sour. Would be better if a bit richer and less sour.